


Defence is the Best Offence

by ardentaislinn



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: F/M, Trigger Warning for Ableist Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-04
Updated: 2015-02-04
Packaged: 2018-03-10 12:30:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3290405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ardentaislinn/pseuds/ardentaislinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daniel is glad he has a friend like Peggy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Defence is the Best Offence

“How does it feel to work with the crip all the time?”

The distant words were a punch to Daniel’s gut and his breath stalled in his lungs. He froze, thankfully out of sight and around the corner, but sadly not out of hearing distance. He was about to turn, not wanting to hear any more, when a soft feminine voice replied.

“Given that _Agent Sousa_ ,” she corrected the man deliberately, “is twice the man and agent you’ll ever be, Jenkins, I’m quite thrilled about it. Why, are you jealous?”

The extreme level of faux-concern in Peggy’s voice made Daniel smile, his hurt dissipating at her words. He really ought to be immune to the name-calling and disrespect by now, but by this point he doubted he ever would be. Though, perhaps if it wasn’t daily; hourly. _Perhaps if it wasn’t in front of Peggy, his mind whispered_. He dismissed the thought. She was a colleague, and maybe one day a friend. Nothing more.

His smile turned to a grin as Jenkins began stuttering awkwardly in reply, unable to think of a suitable comeback. In the end, he just walked off it a huff, passing Daniel in the corridor as he left but apparently unable to look him in the eye.

Daniel let out a breath, glad that Peggy had defended him. Not for himself, since he was so used to the insults, but because of what it said about her. Peggy herself was an outsider in the office. It would have been much easier for her to laugh and throw him to the wolves with a joke at his expense, in an attempt to be more accepted by the other men in the office and make her own life easier. Instead, she fought against them every step of the way, often to her own detriment.

It was just who she was, and for that Daniel admired her more than ever.

Whether or not she actually believed what she said – that he was twice the man and agent than an able-bodied man was – was another thing entirely. He knew they worked well together. And he suspected that she enjoyed his company. But did she never feel that she had to compensate for him? Did she wish he was whole?

It was pointless wondering. Peggy had never given him cause to wonder about it by either her words or her deeds. Daniel had to accept that at face value, no matter his occasional bouts of self-doubt.

Squaring his shoulders, he strode into the office as best he could and projected a confidence he only partially felt.

Peggy saw him and smiled, but her gaze flickered behind him in the direction that Jenkins went.

He simply gave her a genuine smile in return as he sat at his desk. He knew she’d be embarrassed if he brought up what he had heard, so he stayed silent.

Picking up a report on his desk, he stared blindly at it as his mind returned to Peggy against his will. If she _did_ genuinely believe him to be a good man and agent, would she be willing to be _more_ than friends? He tried to shake the thought, knowing it was hopeless to think it, but the idea wouldn’t leave him.

So consumed was he by his thoughts that he failed to notice Peggy sidling up beside him until she waved a report in front of his face.

“Can you check my translation on some of these documents? Your German is better than mine.”

“Sure,” he told her as he took the papers. Right before she walked away, completely unexpectedly but with a casualness that could only be unstudied, she squeezed his shoulder in thanks. The spark from the contact flashed through his entire body, and he turned towards her, drawn without conscious thought. But Peggy was still striding away, as if she hadn’t just done something extraordinary.

In that moment, Daniel truly believed that she saw him as a man. A normal man that she liked and trusted.

A grin stretched across his face as he turned back to the report. Maybe the thought wasn’t so hopeless after all.

 


End file.
